Line #108 NeverMyFault/Literature


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8	* ''Literature/AcidRow'':
9	** Milosz Kelowski's psychiatrist states that based on what Milosz told him of his father, Franek "will never take responsibility" because of his narcissism. Franek indeed blames everyone and anyone else for his problems, while utterly refusing to acknowledge his own faults. He blames Sophie for making him hit her because she refused to cooperate and tried to turn his son on him... after he took her hostage while the house was surrounded by a mob and wouldn't even let her try to talk them down. Later, he dramatically tells the police that [[spoiler:Sophie tried to seduce him and then got angry when he criticised her, and that Jimmy hit him and tied him up for no reason; in reality, Sophie is nothing but repulsed by Franek and was angry at him for refusing to listen to reason, while Jimmy got violent with Franek because he tried to attack Jimmy after he caught Franek assaulting Sophie. Luckily, no one remotely believes Franek's version]].
10	** Fay Baldwin is adamant that she isn't to blame for the events of Bloody Saturday, trying to blame it all on Melanie Patterson for organising the protest that turned into a riot. This is despite the fact Melanie only organised the protest because Fay had broken doctor-patient confidentiality and told her there was a paedophile living on her street who would go after her children, resulting in word spreading and everyone getting up in arms. Fay tells herself that everyone would've found out eventually anyway, but when it's discovered she leaked the information, her colleagues make it clear they find her behaviour extremely inappropriate and irresponsible. They get so sick of hearing Fay whine about it not being her fault, they're considering getting her charged with incitement; they know it likely wouldn't make it to court but hope it might finally get Fay to to reflect on her actions.
11	* Among the Dayao in ''Literature/AlwaysComingHome'', the superiors and their orders are never at fault. Only the ones carrying the orders out are. Leads to a lot of BlameGame and {{Scapegoat}}ing once their military campaigns start failing.
12	* ''Literature/TheAmyVirus'': This is one of the three defining traits of Cyan's [[AbusiveParents abusive father]] (the other two traits are he's a [[{{Hypocrite}} lying hypocrite]] and a total ControlFreak). [[spoiler: Tam reveals to Cyan that he actually lost his IT job because he messed up some code and blamed a coworker for it instead of taking responsibility, not because he was laid off by younger competitors as he had claimed]].
13	* In ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'': ''The Last Guardian'', [[BigBad Opal Koboi]] has found a way to blame her arch-rival Foaly for her decision to implant a human pituitary gland in her skull in an attempt to make her body generate more growth hormone, which had the side effect of sapping her magic. The logic involved in her conclusion isn't shown, but is probably of the {{insane troll\|Logic}} variety.
14	%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample* In ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'' by Creator/AynRand, this trope is played straight by every single villain.
15	* In ''Literature/TheBadSeed'', when [[EnfantTerrible Rhoda Penmark]] admits to her mother that she murdered her classmate Claude Daigle [[EvilIsPetty to obtain his penmanship medal]], she tries to blame him for the murder she committed, claiming that if he had given her the medal, she wouldn't have struck him unconscious with her shoe.
16	* In ''Literature/BeastTamer'', two of the story's first antagonists are completely incapable of admitting fault for their actions.
17	** Arios Orlando blames anybody and everybody he can when his evil schemes come home to roost. Specifically his kicking Rein out of the party, and behaving haughty when he tries to make Rein come back to do a job he can't, lands him on the wrong side of a CurbStompBattle after which he's forced to apologize. From there he starts a campaign of RevengeBeforeReason that ultimately sees him [[spoiler:stripped of his status as a Hero]] when he's exposed and it's discovered [[spoiler:there may be an alternative to needing him]].
18	** Edgar Fromage, heir to the lordship of the town of Horizon blames his knights and the protagonist Rein for screwing up his little fiefdom tyranny, and bringing him to justice. Problem is, Edgar started it by going after Rein's companions Sora and Runa first, refusing to take "no" for an answer and violently trying to take the two fairies from Rein by force, learning for the first time in his life what it means to bite off more than you can chew and that wanting something doesn't automatically mean owning it.
19	* ''Literature/TheButcherBoy'': Francie tends to blame the Nugents for all the bad things going on in his life, even when they were provoked by his own bad decisions. When Joe decides to cut all ties with Francie and befriend Phillip instead, Francie deduces it's all the Nugents' fault and [[spoiler: kills Mrs Nugent as "retribution".]]
20	* ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants'':
21	** In Book 2, Mr. Krupp (rightfully) bans George & Harold for participating in the Invention Convention due to a prank the duo pulled on all the staff and students when the participated in the previous Invention Convention. Rather than admitting they were wrong for pulling such a stunt, the boys just play the victim, get angry, and sabotage the other kids’ inventions out of spite.
22	** While it was immature & wrong for George & Harold to trick Ms. Ribble & Mr. Krupp into (almost) getting married, both Mr. Krupp & Ms. Ribble decide to put the whole blame on the boys for them almost getting married. Ms. Ribble even goes as far as to deliberately changing George & Harold's grades to failing grades to get them to flunk the fourth grade. She and Mr. Krupp ignore the fact that both of them had a whole week to simply tell the other staff members that neither of them wanted to get married to each other and that they were a victim of a prank. It doesn't help the prank that George & Harold did was intended to be a small prank that people will just laugh at & then move on.
23	* ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'': Chris wants revenge on Carrie for getting her banned from the prom, culminating in her plan to [[PromWrecker humiliate Carrie at the prom in front of everybody]]. However, Carrie wasn't the one who got Chris banned from the dance. Chris got herself banned from the dance for bullying Carrie and then refusing to do all of the detentions she was assigned as punishment.
24	* The Bosses in ''Literature/ClocksThatDontTick'' refuse to accept any responsibility for the state of the world despite, well, everything.
25	* ''Literature/ConstanceVeritySavesTheWorld'': Despite the fact that it was Lady Peril faking her own death and leaving Siege Perilous in her son Larry's not-so-evil hands that led to his (supposed) death, she's quick to foist all the blame onto Connie for failing to protect him when a Siege Perilous splinter-group (allegedly) kills him. It's even more damning when it's revealed that she had made a {{Magitek}} system that slowly drained Connie of the caretaker destiny (and the improbably good luck it provides), handicapping her chances of succeeding in the first place.
26	* In the ''Literature/CormoranStrikeNovels'', any problem in the relationship of Matthew and Robin is, in Matthew's mind, Robin's fault, no matter what it might be. Even his own infidelity.
27	* The [[NoNameGiven unnamed student]] in ''Literature/DecisionOfFate'' blames his professor for his drug use. His reason? The professor gave an assignment that said the student was supposed to do something he had never done before. Somehow, it completely escapes him that not a single word was said about trying drugs.
28	* In ''[[Literature/HettyFeather Diamond]]'', Diamond's father blames Diamond for her mother's death because they didn't get the medicine she needed to her in time. The reason they were late is because Diamond's father forced her to perform for people instead of going straight home.
29	* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'':
30	** You can probably count the number of times that Greg has (whether voluntarily or forced to) taken responsibility for something bad he's done or otherwise acknowledged that he made a mistake on one hand. Again, this book is probably (intentionally or not), an excellent exploration of the ProtagonistCenteredMorality trope and the thought process of a borderline sociopath.
31	** ''[[Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKidRodrickRules Rodrick Rules]]'' has the distinction of having it happen twice on one page. When Mom dances during the recording of [[BigBrotherBully Rodrick's]] band session at the talent show, thus depriving him of his chance to show his performance to record companies, Rodrick calls her out. She just responds that [[LogicalFallacies he shouldn't play music if he doesn't want people to dance]]. Rodrick then blames the recording fiasco on Greg for not taping the show for him, only for Greg to reply that he would have done it if Rodrick wasn't such a JerkAss.
32	** In ''The Last Straw'', while Greg, Erick, and Kenny were waiting for Mr. Litch in the car, KENNY honks the horn as a joke, and due to being in the passanger seat, Mr. Litch believes that GREG did it and take a long time driving them home. And get this, Erick and Kenny are mad at GREG for honking the horn and making them get home late.
33	* Carcer Dun from ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/NightWatchDiscworld''. Despite killing several people, including an off-duty watchman, and attempting to kill Vimes, he claims to the end that he is innocent. He's also insane, so that has to be taken into account.
34	* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
35	** Bianca has this pretty hard. In ''Literature/{{Storm Front\|DresdenFiles}}'', the title character comes to talk to her, and she attacks him. After he defends himself and leaves, she's emotionally out of control to the point that she kills her lover/slave. And that's Dresden's fault because he dared to defend himself. In ''Literature/GravePeril'' she has the Red Court trick Dresden into an outright war in "revenge" for his "crime."
36	** [[spoiler:The changeling Ace. By the end of ''Literature/SummerKnight'', one of his best friends is dead and the others have turned their backs to him, since his choices led indirectly to said death. Who does he blame? Harry Dresden, whom he had earlier betrayed to the Red Court even though he was trying to help the changelings.]]
37	* In ''Literature/TheExpanse'', [[BigBadWannabe Marco Inaros]] is a narcissistic psychopath who combines this with an AllAccordingToPlan rhetoric (that would be pathetic and almost comical if it weren't very much PlayedForDrama) to refuse to ever acknowledge that he miscalculated. To be fair to him, he is a good enough tactician to plan and execute devastating first strikes, and he is good at taking advantage of the new opportunities to hurt his enemies that inevitably arise in the chaos he spreads. However, he totally lacks the ability to reconcile his [[XanatosSpeedChess quick-changing short-term goals]] with [[TheChessmaster a larger-scale plan]], and he is too arrogant to listen to people who could help him with this even when he is quite obviously losing ground. The result is that he alienates all his intelligent and reasonable allies, leaving him with just a small group of cultishly-loyal, hate-fuelled fanatics who follow him blindly as he lashes out at the easiest target while insisting that the opportunity to do so was his plan all along.
38	* The protagonist of ''FFF-Rank Trashero'' has a serious problem with this. After his first round of ten years suffering under sadistic instructors, exploitative nobility, and idiotic companions, Kang Han Soo is left with a rather extreme [[ItsAllAboutMe egocentric]] view of his adventures even as he's forced to [[NewGamePlus relive them]] due to having "bad character". As he tries to tackle all of the problems he remembers from the first time using what are, to him, perfectly logical means, he continually runs afoul of the simple fact that he does not understand other people and [[DidntThinkThisThrough not considering the long-term consequences of his actions]]. Every time this happens, he [[IgnoredEpiphany blatantly ignores]] all evidence related to a mistake on his part and instead assumes it's because someone else is interfering or screwing him over.
39	* ''Literature/TheFirstLaw'': In order to improve his reputation at home, government officials make Crown Prince Ladisla a general under the assumption that he'll listen to Colonel West, a veteran who knows the area and who Ladisla respects. Unfortunately, he does the opposite of what West recommends, which causes thousands of his soldiers to be slaughtered. When he thinks about all the people who are dead because of him, his greatest lament is that they didn't fight harder.
40	* Victor Frankenstein from ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'' is a strange example of this. When the monster -- his creation -- snaps and vows revenge on him as a result of the rejection and hatred he endured for his deformed appearance (including from Victor himself), Victor ''does'' hold himself accountable... at first. As his family around him continue to suffer, the responsibility eventually becomes too painful for Victor to bear, and he shifts from holding himself accountable to repeatedly blaming and hating the monster.
41	* In Creator/JohnCWright's ''[[Literature/TheGoldenOecumene The Golden Age]]'', the basic stance of the cacophiles. Particularly, they blame their parents for not dying and thus shutting them out of an inheritance.
42	* A good few of the damned have this problem in ''Literature/TheGreatDivorce''.
43	** The Napoleon character (mentioned in conversation) has a rather blatant form of this. He's quoted as having been pacing around his house, repeating "It was Soult's fault. It was Ney's fault. It was Josephine's fault. It was the fault of the English. It was the fault of the Russians." [[TruthInTelevision Which captures in a nutshell]] the way UsefulNotes/{{Napoleon\|Bonaparte}} blamed all his defeats and failures on his subordinates in the memoirs he dictated to his companions Las Cases, Montholon and Gourgaud on St. Helena. Even those of his admirers who take that at face value have to point out that it generally was Napoleon himself who appointed those subordinates and put them in the position where they allegedly did so much damage.
44	** Pamela, the possessive mother, also has a bad case of this. She believes that her husband and daughter abandoned her when she was grieving for her dead son because they didn't care about her or understand what it meant to be a mother. Her guide gently reminds her that they ''actually'' left because she was neglecting them in favor of her son (and when he died, her refusal to move on).
45	** In general, this is the chief problem of the damned, as repentance is the first step one makes towards salvation. It's worth noting that the one and only ghost that ends up becoming a Person during the book recognizes and acknowledges that his flaw (lust) ''is'' a flaw, and permits [[WreathedInFlames an]] [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angel]] to correct it.
46	* ''Literature/HarryPotter''
47	** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'' Lucius Malfoy helps Draco lobby to get Buckbeak executed after the Hippogriff slashes Draco's arm. However, the only reason he did that was because Draco ignored Hagrid's instructions about never insulting a Hippogriff and proceeded to call him a "great ugly brute".
48	** Draco threatening Harry at the end of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'', because his father is [[spoiler: in jail, which was Lucius' own fault for not being able to handle a group of children at]] the Ministry of Magic.
49	** [[spoiler:Once Harry and Dumbledore's claim that Voldemort has returned is confirmed beyond all question]], ''The Daily Prophet'' writes an article about how brave Harry was for sticking to his story while having to "bear ridicule and slander". As Hermione notes, they were the ones who did all of the ridiculing and slandering in the first place.
50	* ''Literature/HonorHarrington:''
51	** Captain Lord Pavel Young is a poster child for the AristocratsAreEvil trope and assumes that everything bad that happens to him is the fault of other people because, for him, ItsAllAboutMe. Usually, the target of his blame is Honor herself (whom he never calls by name, always "that bitch"). [[note]]His security chief wonders if [[TheSociopath he just sees other people as "cardboard cutouts"]], and he keeps projecting his own selfishness onto others.[[/note]]
52	*** It starts when he tried to rape Honor in their academy days, and she gave him a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown and he was forced to apologize[[note]]Honor didn't want to press charges, but the brass gave Young a formal reprimand anyway.[[/note]].
53	** Years later, he leaves Honor horribly understaffed at [[ReassignedToAntarctica Basilisk Station]], she proves far more effective than he was mostly by actually doing her job, and he blames her.[[note]]Ironically, this one wasn't entirely his fault. The Navy deliberately dragged their heels on Young's "necessary repairs", just because they liked what Honor was doing.[[/note]] The fisaco gets him ReassignedToAntarctica ''again'', and his name is mud. He blames her.
54	*** When Young's assigned to Heavy Cruiser Squadron 17, battle kills the Commodore, and the ships scatter. Young is technically the most senior officer, but Honor orders everyone to return. Young does not, and he gets dishonorably discharged. He blames her.
55	*** Just before he dies, he looks at his brother and second, who won't waste the most basic human comforting gesture on Young. Young realizes that his entire family have been worthless, selfish scumbags for a long time, and Honor's legacy would outshine all of them combined even if he miraculously won. Naturally, he channels this epiphany into ''more'' hatred for her.
56	*** Even after he ''dies'', this happens. He duels Honor, but shoots her early, which is punishable by death, and his name was already ruined. Honor and the Master Of the Field shoot him dead, but some of the papers sneer at Honor for breaking the rules. Ignoring how Young broke 'em first, and he would've died anyway, and Honor had a right to shoot in self-defense if nothing else.
57	** This is a large part of the reason the situation with the Solarian League escalates as far as it does in the later books. The League's governing bureaucracy fears that openly admitting it was in the wrong with regards to incidents where Solarian naval officers attacked Manticoran ships would be seen as a sign of weakness the systems they oppress in the Verge would capitalize on. This leaves them compelled to fight what is, in many ways, a hopeless war against the ''far'' more technologically advanced Manticore, and forces Manticore to have to fight an enemy that won't even consider a peaceful resolution.
58	** On a personal level, the Solarian Battle Fleet Admiral who started this conflict, Josef Byng, is shown in his own thoughts trying to justify to himself his panicked destruction of three Manticoran ships that were no threat to him while also trying to figure out how to pin the blame elsewhere.
59	** OFS governor Damián Dueñas in ''Shadow Of Freedom'' spends most of his viewpoint chapters coming up with various ways in which the utter disaster he caused was somebody else's fault.
60	* ''Literature/InDeath'' series: A number of the villains will always blame everyone but themselves when something goes wrong. ''Divided In Death'' had Dr. Mira explicitly telling Eve that Blair Bissel refuses to blame himself and that he ''has'' to blame someone else for everything going wrong for him. Jerald "Jerry" Reinhold from ''Thankless in Death'' is even worse, never taking responsibility for ANYTHING.
61	* ''Literature/JurassicPark1990'':
62	** Hammond[[note]]who's more of a {{Jerkass}} than in TheFilmOfTheBook[[/note]] has a long internal monologue in which he blames everyone except himself for the disaster. Then he [[KarmicDeath gets eaten]].
63	** Gennaro is a largely irresponsible man who has allowed significant monetary investment in a project he did very little checking on, under a man (Hammond) he knew to be unsavory, and yet whenever something goes wrong he's the first one to start bitching at someone else. Eventually, Grant [[WhatTheHellHero calls him on it by slamming him into a wall]] and [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech spitting it all into his face]].
64	* Several instances in some of Creator/StephenKing's works:
65	** The main villain in ''Literature/MrMercedes'' is this. A hateful psychopath with a [[ParentalIncest very disturbing relationship with his alcoholic mother]], Brady Hartsfield opens the book by driving the titular Mercedes through a crowd in a spree killing, [[spoiler: then attempts to further get his jollies by [[CriminalMindGames driving people close to the case to suicide through manipulation.]] Unfortunately, he greatly underestimates Detective Hodges, the book's main character and the now-retired detective who was on said case until he retired. Instead of pushing him over the edge, Hodges is reinvigorated and begins investigating the case on his own, turning the manipulation game around and driving Brady into a mad rage. Brady decided to try and regain the advantage by surreptitiously poisoning the dog that belongs to the family of Jerome, a young man who helps Detective Hodges, which he figures Hodges will grasp as being done by him. Unfortunately, his drunken mother gets into the poisoned hamburger and makes herself a fatal meal]]. Whose fault is this? Detective Hodges.
66	** In the follow-up to the above, ''Literature/FindersKeepers'' has Morris, who blames his mother for his first stint in jail, and his friend Andrew for his second. You see, he was in jail for crimes he committed while black-out drunk, and the reason he had started drinking on those two occasions were because he was pissed with them. Because that is how logic works.
67	** ''Literature/UnderTheDome'': when Junior [[spoiler:kills Angie]]. He keeps thinking about how she made him do it. [[spoiler:He's none too rational due to a brain tumor, but still....]]
68	* In ''Literature/TheKingsAvatar'', the reserves on Team Tiny Herb use this excuse when trying to explain to their captain Wang Jiexi why they weren't able to complete his kill order on Lord Grim. One of them stated it was due to the low levels of their player characters rather than admit they had less skill than the one controlling Lord Grim.
69	* The bully ringleader in ''Literature/LetTheRightOneIn'', Johnny, feels this way towards the protagonist, Oskar, smashing him in the head with a piece of wood... while he and a lackey were ''throwing him into a frozen lake''. He retaliates by holding Oskar's head ''in the path of an oncoming train''. Oskar in turn retaliates by burning the bullies' school desks. Unfortunately, the scrapbook with Johnny and his [[TeensAreMonsters older brother Jimmy's]] only photos of their father is in his desk. They respond by nearly drowning him, then preparing to ''cut out his eye''. Never once does Johnny acknowledge his horrible treatment of Oskar which drove him to this.
70	* ''Life's Little Annoyances'', by Ian Urbina: The author used to bring home ice cream, eat some, and leave the rest in the fridge. Then someone would eat most of the rest, without permission. Hiding the ice cream didn't stop her. Writing his name on top didn't stop her. Urbina was going to move out anyway, so he bought some Cookies and Cream ice cream...and covered it in a thin layer of salt. The thief complained about being punished for something they clearly weren’t supposed to do in the first place; Urbina was just taking his ice cream "too seriously" and being "passive-aggressive" and she claimed she had a "pathological weak spot" for ice cream, so Urbina should really be more sympathetic to her condition.
71	* ''Literature/{{Lolita}}'': Humbert certainly qualifies. The book is his attempt to [[UnreliableNarrator convince a jury]] that he is [[BlatantLies not responsible for the events of the book]].
72	* In ''Literature/TheMagicians'', Emily Greenstreet disfigures herself while trying to alter her face with magic; when her boyfriend (who she'd dumped for one of the professors, by the way) tries to help, he loses control of a spell due to being too upset to concentrate and dies in the MagicMisfire. When Quentin meets Emily late in the novel, she blames {{magic\|IsEvil}} for the disaster, claims magic is the source of all the sorrows in her life and Quentin's life, and accuses all of her fellow magicians of being nuclear bombs waiting to go off. For added {{hypocri\|te}}sy, her day job requires magic performed by said nuclear bombs to disguise the fact that she does absolutely nothing. Averted in [[Series/TheMagicians2016 the series]], where she abandoned magic out of guilt after what she had done.
73	* ''Literature/MartinFierro'': This is a NarrativePoem about Martin Fierro, a {{Gaucho}} who is PressGanged into {{Conscription}} trying to SettlingTheFrontier. When Fierro reflects that The Judge punished him because Fierro didn’t want to vote in his election (voting was obligatory in Argentina), Fierro invokes DumbIsGood and blames PersecutedIntellectuals instead.
74	** At song III, Fierro thinks of one Indian that almost kills him in a battle "God forgive him for having tried to kill me", conveniently forgetting that Fierro was an EvilColonialist who was SettlingTheFrontier and the Indian was [[OccupiersOutOfOurCountry only defending his own land]].
75	* The ''Franchise/MassEffect'' EU book ''Ascension'' had an exiled Quarian cooperate with Cerberus as revenge for (as he thought) his people banishing him from the Flotilla for no reason. This same Quarian had tried to ''sell his people to the Collectors''.
76	* The protagonist of Klaus Mann's ''Literature/{{Mephisto}}'', Hendrik Hoefgen, is a German theater actor who uses Nazi connections to advance his career. Though he uses this influence to [[spoiler:imprison his ex-girlfriend and murder his primary rival]], Hoefgen is dumbfounded when his friends, wife and colleagues disgustedly desert him. The book's concluding line has Hoefgen wondering "What do they expect of me? After all, I am just an actor."
77	* ''Literature/MobyDick'': Ahab claims that his mad obsession with catching Moby Dick at all costs can't really be his fault, because all things, including his actions, were pre-ordained by God long before he was born.
78	* In ''Literature/NorthangerAbbey'', General Tilney tries to [[ShipperWithAnAgenda push his son towards Catherine Morland]] after being informed she's a wealthy heiress by a dishonest braggart who wanted to marry her himself. When the braggart turns around and says she's as poor as a churchmouse, the General doesn't question the veracity of the abrupt reversal or his judgment in believing the first report. Instead, he becomes angry with "everyone in the world except himself."
79	* Lucas Edward's ''Literature/ObjectOblivion'': Crayon will not admit he caused 60% of his own team's deaths from 'Call of Duty: Object Oblivion Edition'.
80	* ''Literature/{{Oblomov}}'': The titular character is completely unable to change his life by himself; when he gets unhappy he decides to blame Sachar instead. Now Sachar is a JerkAss and whatnot, but still MisBlamed.
81	* ''Literature/OneOfUsIsLying'': Simon delighted in using his gossip app to tear people down, and revelled in the power this gave him. The fact that this is the reason he has no friends and that maybe he bears some responsibility for his own misery doesn't seem to have occurred to him.
82	* In the ''Literature/PastDoctorAdventures'' novel ''Festival of Death'', Rochfort, captain of the ''Cerberus'', takes this to a particularly twisted extent; when the ''Cerberus'' is caught in a closing hyperspace tunnel, the ship's computer ERIC told Rochfort to let him stop the ship, but Rochfort kept insisting that they could make it up until the moment they crashed into the now-sealed tunnel exit, and subsequently tells ERIC that he ''should'' have overridden Rochfort's orders even though ERIC's programming specifically forbids him from doing such a thing. The resulting conflict between what ERIC is being told he should have done and what he was actually capable of doing drives him into a suicidal depression that lasts for almost two centuries, while Rochfort's attempt to escape responsibility [[spoiler:sees him possessed and essentially killed by an other-dimensional entity of pure death]].
83	* ''Literature/ThePerfectRun'': The Alchemist sent out {{Super Serum}}s to random people across the world, fully expecting to cause chaos and making no attempt to warn people of the possible side effects of taking more than one. Furthermore, [[spoiler:she could have easily prevented the Psycho Condition in the first place just by teaching the elixirs (which are sapient) not to fight over hosts. When confronted by one of the Psychos she created, she just shrugs and says it's the Psycho's own fault for being too greedy]].
84	* ''Literature/ThePictureOfDorianGray'': The title character is never able to hold himself accountable for his sinful actions. When Sibyl commits suicide, [[TheHedonist Dorian Gray]] views her death as a tragic drama in order to avoid responsibility. He even blames Basil for what he has become, and kills him. From Dorian's perspective, it was the knife that killed Basil, leaving Dorian himself blameless. He is always surprised when the eponymous painting proves otherwise. The implication is that he never takes the blame for his crimes because it is the painting, not he, that carries evidence of his guilt.
85	* ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'':
86	** According to Malty, everything bad that happens to her is always the fault of someone else. When you pay attention to all the times she pathetically [[VillainsWantMercy begged for her life]], you'll notice that she never [[TheUnapologetic explicitly apologizes for her actions]]. It's another dead giveaway that she is incapable of feeling anything resembling remorse or shame. Suffice to say, her mother had none of this and rescinded Malty's status as a princess from her out of disgust for her daughter's actions.
87	** When her father Aultcray gets stripped of his royal status and renamed "Trash" he blames Naofumi for everything even though it's his own fault as he should of put behind his prejudice and worked with Naofumi rather than screwing him over and trying to have him killed.
88	* ''Literature/RodAllbrightAlienAdventures'': In the first book, a bully tries to beat up Rod, but aliens super-accelerate the intended victim so he dodges. The bully breaks his hand on the hard surface behind Rod, and later gets his father to sue Rod's family for damages. [[spoiler: Later, fortunately, when the bullies' ringleader, a disguised evil alien, is brought to justice, the alien's "father" confronts the bully and his father with the true story.]]
89	* ''Literature/RWBYBeforeTheDawn'': While Sun did have good intentions in [[WebAnimation/{{RWBY}} going with Blake to Menagerie]], the spin-off novel explores the consequences of his decision. Sun struggles to accept that his teammates have a right to be angry with him during ''Before the Dawn'', thinking they'll get over it eventually and that it shouldn't be a big deal. It takes bonding with Velvet and arguing with Coco for him to realize how badly he screwed up in their eyes. [[spoiler:He does apologize at the end of the book, allowing the team to finally start mending their relationship.]]
90	* ''Literature/ScavengerAlliance'': This is Hannah's attitude. [[spoiler: It's not Hannah's fault she stole medicine and lied about it: Cage made her! It's not her fault she lied to Blaze about everything for the next six years and chased away everyone else who tried to befriend her! And then lied to everyone else about Blaze so Cage could use her in his takeover bid! And then helped Cage corner her so he could break her arm! It's all Blaze's fault, if you think about it.]]
91	* ''Literature/ShadowOfTheConqueror'': After being overthrown in the backstory, Dayless the Conqueror -- genocidal, tyrannical SerialRapist that he was -- still saw himself as the just and rightful ruler of [[WorldInTheSky Tellos]], and had every intention of [[WeWillMeetAgain returning to power and taking revenge]]. It took ten years of exile before the HeelRealization fully kicked in.
92	* ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'': In the spoof "The Case of the Stolen Cigar Case" by Bret Harte, Holmes -- already portrayed as an absolutely terrible friend to Watson -- accuses the doctor of stealing his cigar case, having [[InsaneTrollLogic infallibly deduced]] that nobody else could be responsible. When Watson discovers the case was in the desk drawer the entire time, Holmes is livid that Watson would attempt to return it by stealth in such a manner, rather than admit his crime.
93	* ''Literature/SisterhoodSeries'' by Creator/FernMichaels: A number of villains essentially go around with this attitude. Senator Webster in ''Payback'' stands out with refusing to accept the blame for having multiple affairs, and then feebly trying to blame his wife Julia Webster for giving him AIDS. She had to shove the evidence in his face and spell out that recklessly having sex with women caused him to get AIDS, and he passed it on to her, plain and simple! Owen Orzell AKA Jody Jumper in ''Home Free'' actually averts or defies the trope by coming out and admitting that he is responsible for what he has done and nobody else.
94	* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
95	** Jaime Lannister, likable though he is, has a pretty bad case of this; not without cause, admittedly. Killing Aerys wasn't a cut-and-dried case of BodyguardBetrayal by a dastardly villain out for gaining power for himself, after all. Even though Jaime's reasons weren't exactly ''all'' sweetness and light, either, it wasn't because of power-seeking. When everybody has harshly judged you beforehand regardless, you tend to dismiss their opinions about you... even when they're not wrong. He gets a bit better listening to others with both time and karma rubbing his nose in the results of previous messes, but he still has a tendency to duck fault for a while when at all possible.
96	** Cersei also has this problem. And unlike Jaime she gets worse. [[spoiler:After Joffrey's death]], she becomes insanely paranoid and thinks that everything bad happening in Westeros is a conspiracy against her masterminded by her hated brother Tyrion. Even when she confesses her sins in ''A Dance with Dragons'' she blames other people for "driving" her into sin.
97	** Cersei sees herself as an unappreciated political genius on par with her father. After [[spoiler: Joffrey and Tywin's deaths]], she finds herself in a position to make all the important decisions. She then stacks the Small Council and the Kingsguard with men of questionable competence with their only qualification that she could manipulate them or they kissed her ass a lot. When [[spoiler: she is arrested by the Faith]] they all prove to be obvious failures at their jobs or run for the hills. She then spends quite a bit of time inner-monologuing and honestly wondering to herself how they could do this to her.
98	** Tyrion actually tends to accept his faults and learns to wear them openly on his sleeve... sometimes when he really shouldn't. But mostly, blame gets handed to him whether he's responsible for the mess or not. Unfortunately, he occasionally hits his limits -- it's less "never my fault" and more "[[ThenLetMeBeEvil you know what, screw it; I'll get blamed either way, so why shouldn't I?!]]".
99	** Sansa Stark used to be this. She witness [[RoyalBrat Joffrey]] attack her younger sister, Arya, who was in defense of her friend, but her pet direwolf Nymeria jumped to her defense and chomped down on Joffrey’s arm, but Arya forced her to run away since Cersei is sure to want her dead. Rather than defend her sister, Sansa sides with Joffrey and lied over their roles in the fight, since she really wants to marry him while [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter believing]] he’s a PrinceCharming. But Cersei spitefully forces Sansa’s pet direwolf, Lady, to be the one killed in place of Nymeria. Sansa is heartbroken over this, but she blames her sister over her direwolf’s death. Even though she lied over Joffrey’s role while refusing to backtrack the lie, even as Lady is sentenced to death. For a little bit she hated Cersei for ordering Lady’s death but quickly forgave her and blamed the event solely on Arya. Sansa even goes as low as to tell Arya that [[YouShouldHaveDiedInstead it should have been her and Nymeria that died instead of Lady.]] By the end of ''Literature/AGameOfThrones'', Sansa finally sees Joffrey [[TheCaligula for the monster he is]]. Come ''Literature/AStormOfSwords'', Sansa admits to Margaery and Olenna over Joffrey’s fault in starting the fight.
100	** Jorah Mormont is this to a T. He captured smallfolk poaching on his lands and sold them to slavers, even though slavery is highly illegal in Westeros. Years, later, he grouses about the gall of Ned Stark coming after him just because of some "Lice-ridden poachers". While in Daenerys's retinue, he has continually spied upon her for Robert Baratheon and hopes of getting a pardon for said slave-selling. At the same time, he constantly proclaims about how loyal he is to her while also trying to tell her about how everyone else she meets will betray her. And no, not because it's part of his plan of being a spy, but because he's trying to get into her pants. When Ser Barristan shows up and reveals his treachery, he gets angry at the very idea that his loyalty is in question and ''demands'' forgiveness.
101	* ''Literature/SpocksWorld'': the BigBad, [[spoiler:Spock's former fiancee]], seems to have this problem. "My mate took a suicidal risk because my mate thought that my constant brooding about my last encounter with you was romantic? Obviously, it's all your fault."
102	* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'':
103	** In the ''Literature/RevengeOfTheSith'' novelization, Anakin, waking on the slab, initially has this reaction to being told that he had killed Padmé. He thinks that he loves her, always will, could never will her death -- but he remembers the cold terror he felt when thinking of her death (said terror is called "the dragon" in the text. ItMakesSenseInContext) that made him create Darth Vader, and he remembers Vader's fury and hatred...
104	---> And there is one blazing moment in which you finally understand that there was no dragon. That there was no Vader. That there was only you. Only Anakin Skywalker.\
105	That it was all you. Is you.\
106	Only you.\
107	[[MyGodWhatHaveIDone You did it]].
108	** In ''Literature/StarWarsKenobi'', distraught at the loss of her son, A'Yark blames Annileen -- whom she believes to have Ben Kenobi's powers -- for "compelling" her to lead her people into a massacre at the hands of the settlers. A'Yark planned and led the raid to kill Annileen before she could use her hypothetical powers against the Sand People.
109	* ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'':
110	** Normally Kaladin is ''too'' good at taking fault, but at his worst moments he starts blaming the [[AristocratsAreEvil lighteyes]] for absolutely everything wrong in his life. This is most clear [[Literature/WordsOfRadiance in the second book]] when he is in the chasms with Shallan, which is the lowest point is his character development. He tells Shallan that all lighteyes are equally to blame for exploiting darkeyes, but refuses to accept responsibility for being an angry cynic, only saying "I am what the lighteyes made me." Thankfully, it doesn't take him too long to start improving again.
111	** [[BigBad Odium]] ''doesn't'' do this, but he does encourage mortals to have this attitude, including his own minions. He does this because [[spoiler:he's the god of uncontrolled emotion and if someone blames him for all their bad decisions, they implicitly surrender their agency to him, giving him more underlings.]]
112	* ''Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde'': Even when writing his final letter, Jekyll refers to Hyde ([[FreudianSlip mostly]]) in the third person, insisting Hyde's actions were not ''his'' actions. "[E]ven now I can scarce grant that I committed [them]."
113	* ''Literature/TheSwamplingKing'': Duke Lenoden is very good at blaming everyone else for anything that goes wrong. He makes a very strong case that he wanted peace and it's Josen's fault they're going to war... even though he's the one who set up the situation so that there would be war if he didn't get what he wants.
114	* ''Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium'':
115	** ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'': Gollum blames the Ring for making him want to kill Frodo, even though it's obvious he is acting of his own volition.
116	** ''Literature/TheFallOfNumenor'': When Aldarion is treated coldly by Erendis after returning from a long sea voyage, he considers his wife is being irrationally angry only because he broke his promise to not spend more than two years overseas, and he assumes his father must have poisoned her mind against him in order to keep him tied to his homeland.
117	* In Creator/PGWodehouse's ''Literature/{{Ukridge}}'' stories, the titular character will never admit that his latest GetRichQuickScheme (and he has a lot of them) was a lousy idea in the first place. The circumstances which caused their failure couldn't have been foreseen and were outside his control. If everyone had just been more broad-minded and cooperative, and not hounded him over every little problem, he'd soon have been in a position to repay everyone. It's really their own fault that they're out of pocket, but instead of being grateful for what he tried to do for them, they subject him to relentless persecution. Or so he'll tell you -- at length.
118	* In ''Literature/VariableStar'', one character talks about how if a child hits himself on the thumb with a hammer, he will blame everyone else in the room. If he's alone in the room, he will yell at the hammer "Look at what you made me do!" He uses it as a metaphor to explain that now is not the time to look for someone to blame, but to try and do something proactive.
119	* ''Literature/LesVoyageursSansSouci'': After dragging Sébastien and Agathe to an old, abandoned castle against their will, and then finding out it is supposedly haunted, the donkey Zacharie demands to know why they dragged him to such a scary place.
120	* ''Literature/WarriorCats'':
121	** ''Tigerclaw's Fury'' has Tigerclaw blame his exile from [=ThunderClan=] on Fireheart for besting him and his Clanmates for being "ungrateful for everything he's done for them", completely disregarding the fact that he betrayed them in the first place by trying to murder Bluestar and take over the Clan.
122	** In the second half of ''The New Prophecy'', Squirrelflight never takes any responsibility for the part she plays in her falling out with her LoveInterest, Brambleclaw, as she always blames him for "unfairly refusing to listen to her warnings about his half-brother, Hawkfrost's, untrustworthiness." True, Brambleclaw never really took Squirrelflight's suspicions seriously, and Hawkfrost does turn out to be a villain when he tries to murder Firestar, but until then, Squirrelflight doesn't have any actual proof for her suspicions, basing them on her own instincts, Hawkfrost's arrogant and ambitious attitude, and on her sister, Leafpool's, negative opinion of Hawkfrost. Furthermore, whenever Squirrelflight tries to "warn" Brambleclaw, she always does so in a rather rude, harsh, hostile, and somewhat judgmental manner, and even accuses him of being disloyal to their Clan even though he hasn't actually done anything disloyal yet, which only ends up pushing Brambleclaw away from her and further into Hawkfrost's influence. Even after they reconcile, Squirrelflight never apologizes for her behavior.
123	** In ''River Of Fire'':
124	*** The prologue has Needletail scolding two [=ShadowClan=] cats for blaming themselves for [=ShadowClan=]'s collapse, saying that Rowanstar is to blame for not being a strong leader. This is after she and her fellow apprentices had constantly rebelled against Rowanstar and helped Darktail overthrow [=ShadowClan=]. Even Yellowfang [[LampshadeHanging calls her out for coming to that conclusion]].
125	*** In the same book, Sleekwhisker very similarly blames Rowanstar (now Rowanclaw again) for her "miserable life" and the deaths of some of her Clanmates because he didn't defeat Darktail. Again, this is after she and the other apprentice willingly joined Darktail and treacherously helped him overthrow Rowanstar and take over [=ShadowClan=]. What makes it worse, however, is that Sleekwhisker willingly helped Darktail murder one of her own Clanmates (who happens to be Needletail) without any hesitation or an ounce of remorse.
126	* The title character of Tom Gleisner's ''Warwick Todd'' books is an Australian cricketer who writes memoirs of his tours with a fictionalised version of the real Australian cricket team. He blames the team's and his own failures on anyone but himself. One subversion involved Todd not joining in on an appeal for a caught behind. "My fault, no question. When Heals goes up, everyone goes up". If you're not from a cricketing nation, you have no idea what you just read.
127	* ''Literature/TheWitchOfKnightcharm'': Imogene, the leader of Emily's original team, makes it clear that she blames Emily for their mission failure at the start of the story. This is even though neither Imogene nor the rest of her squad were able to defeat their opponents any more than Emily could. Yes, they managed to keep standing and fighting until their enemies left (because Lauren had taken out Emily and stolen the magical artifacts which the bad guys had come to get), but that can hardly be called a success. Nonetheless, Imogene holds Emily solely responsible for the disaster, and doesn't blame herself at all.
128	* In ''Literature/WolfHall'', Henry VIII exiles Cardinal Wolsey and then accuses him of treason, and Wolsey takes ill and dies on the trip back to his probable execution in London. Years later, Henry acquires the habit of referring fondly to the Cardinal, as though -- Cromwell privately notes -- it was some ''other'' monarch who hounded him to death. (This was historically something of a pattern with Henry; it only took a few months after he executed Cromwell to start regretting it and blamed everyone else for the fact that he killed his most competent servant.)
129	* Discussed in the Germany section of ''Literature/WorldWarZ'', when a solder from Western Germany argues that this phenomenon is the reason that most skinheads and Neo-Nazis are from the East. Growing up in West Germany at the tail-end of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, he recalls that personal responsibility was drilled into all West Germans from an early age, as they were taught that they had a duty to atone for the sins of [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany their grandparents' generation]] by ''always'' obeying their conscience. Under the government of East Germany, on the other hand, children never learned the importance of responsibility because they were taught that good Communists [[JustFollowingOrders just do what they're told]].
130	* Creator/RingLardner's novel "You Know Me Al" is a collection of letters from a young pitcher trying to break into the big leagues. Whenever he writes about one of his poor pitching performances, he starts by saying that he always takes responsibility for his failings (usually with a TitleDrop), and then immediately blames everyone else on the team for his loss.
131	* Vera Whitefern of ''Literature/MySweetAudrina'' does a number of terrible things through the book, but never takes responsibility for any of it, always finding a way to blame her actions on someone else.
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Context NeverMyFault / Literature